Notre Dame was led by Annie Siebert's game-high of 16 points. Kelsey Luster chipped in with 10.

Falling behind 13-2 after the first quarter, Sikeston could not convert on the offensive end. Multiple times Sikeston found themselves holding Notre Dame to one shot or causing a turnover with their defensive pressure but couldn't convert on their end.

Sikeston, who finished the first half with 12 turnover themselves, had a hand in eight Notre Dame turnovers but did not score off of any of them in the first half.

"They came out and rushed us a little bit. They were able to capitalize on that," Sikeston head coach Matt Schonhoff said. "Once we got our feet underneath us, we had a lot better game."

Sikeston scored just their second field goal two minutes into the second quarter going a full eight minutes without a basket.

"When we did get turnovers, they were quick enough to get back on defense to negate us," said Schonhoff. "At the same time, we have to be able to run good offense and get a shot."

Although she scored just four points on the night, Hayli Chapman, who also finished with eight rebounds, finally got Sikeston going. Both of Chapman's buckets came during a 6-0 run that pushed the score to 17-8 in the second quarter, which Sikeston ended up outscoring Notre Dame, who was without their leading scorer Shelby Beussink, in 11-9.

"Shots weren't falling," Notre Dame head coach Renee Peters said. "We had an off night with one of our shooters (Kaitlyn Welter), who I don't think even scored tonight. Even some of the bunny shots weren't falling and those no excuses for that. You got to put those in."

After trading buckets until the end of the second quarter, Notre Dame led 22-13 at halftime.

"We want to get the early lead. That's been our 'M-O,' we want those bursts of points," Peters said. "I was hoping we would sustain it a little longer than we did, but they came out in the second quarter and outscored us."

A 3-point play by Siebert gave Notre Dame a 32-17 lead with three minutes left in the third quarter. Notre Dame went on to outscore Sikeston 14-6 and take a 36-19 lead into the fourth.

"I thought our defense, for the most part, was outstanding," Schonhoff said. "But, our rebounding was not there when it needed to be and we missed some shots when it got around a 10-point ball game."

The closest Sikeston came to Notre Dame was 14 points, 42-28, after a basket from Mikala Nichols, who finished with seven points and four steals, inside the last two minutes.

"Credit Sikeston," Peters said. "That was a fast-paced game. We could never get that commanding lead. We pressed for 32 minutes and they pushed us."